Send us a text

There seem to be many views on what should be the goal of exercise! Should you aim, above all, at flexibility, or should it be cardiovascular ability? Or should you shoot for a balance of strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness!

Well, obviously it seems to me, that a balanced approach is better- after all, all of these three components are crucial in their own ways. But together, they are the key to ultimate fitness, right? Well- kind of…

It used to be axiomatic that running, particularly long distance running, conferred the most health advantages! A strong, enduring cardiovascular system would keep you from getting a heart attack, and that is the ultimate goal…

However, it turns out that endless distance running also consumes your musculature and strength, while simultaneously rendering you more and more inflexible and lowering your immune response to many diseases, and cancer itself! It also, over long distances and years, destroys your knee and hip joints. And the cardio benefits seem to be very temporary: once you stop running (from your self-inflicted destruction), those benefits disappear.

Flexibility as a sole benefit is very slight. The ability to bend your body and limbs over a wide range of motion might seem impressive and desirable, (especially after you have destroyed most of your flexibility by long-distance running alone), by itself to become a kind of ‘yogi’ like this is more a type of parlor trick, other than the sum of being fit. It just doesn’t make you capable of much at all!

No, ironically, the number one goal of overall fitness is to build strength and muscle! This is the last component that has been considered to be important in the last few decades. But, as you age, it becomes apparent that strength training is by far the most important thing you can do.

To be self-sufficient and vital, you need strength above all. Muscle tissue is what will burn calories, even when you are not exercising, thus keeping you from becoming obese. Of course, strength is also what keeps you mobile and walking, able to lift heavy items and move things as well as yourself.

The main goal of the elderly, and those of us who will all eventually become elderly, is actually to build strength and muscle tissue. Strength training is what keeps us out of the nursing home, and in our own homes! Everything else: sports of all types - running, basketball, racket sports, gymnastics, horseshoes, basketball and other “ball” sports- they might be fun, and improve us in some subtle ways; but they do not give us true, measurable, and long-lasting benefits.

Only strength training does that, and it can be done for our entire lives! In one study, researchers compared muscle building ability in women in their 90’s to those in their 20’s, and found that the elders built muscle and strength as fast as those much younger!

This shows us how much muscle is valued and needed by the body, providing we induce the stimulus by strength training to show that the muscle is needed. Muscle that can keep us from falling, helping us to keep our balance, and also building our bone strength along with our musculatures.

Strength training is indeed crucial!

Support the show

Send us a text

One piece of misinformation that has been around for a long time is the idea that strength training workouts need to be…LONG! And I mean HOURS long…

I fell for this myself in my younger days. I mean, if 1 hour of intense workout exercises is good, well, 2 hours is even better, right? And the big one: if 3 workouts per week is enough for Steve Reeves and his ilk, well why not be like Arnold and Zane, and workout 6 days per week, sometimes twice per day!

This is all sad, and ridiculous, really. Especially for average people, who don’t want to win bodybuilding contests, but just want to be strong and healthy for a lifetime! I remember reading about Jean Claude von Damme, and how he worked out 6 hours per DAY!! What a joke, really…

I’m here to give you a liberating philosophy of strength training:

You can reach your ultimate potential, and train for your whole life long, by training for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to three times per week! Really. I now train my lower body one day for about that long, and my upper body for the same time frame. I train, skip a day, and then train again. My weights and gymnastic rings are all set up in my basement, and I just walk downstairs, and start working…

Very convenient, quickly done, and very productive! Today, for instance, I took off two days between workouts, since leg training sometimes is more draining than upper body. No matter; I just try to feel how I am recovering, and judge accordingly.

It really is surprising to learn that, when you workout really intensely, a short duration is really all you need, and really all your body can stand! An intense stimulation of the targeted musculature must necessarily be brief, and is all that you really need or want.

Just as you don’t need a ton of food to grow and recover, you don’t need a TON of exercise to stimulate gains! Just make sure that the food you do eat is mainly protein, meat, eggs, cheese and seafood, and you will be very strong and healthy…Supplements are good too, so take vitamin D, magnesium and potassium, vitamin C and you will have all you need to grow, thrive, and be super healthy and strong!!

That is really all there is to it! It’s really not that complicated, my friends.

My only qualification is that I also work out every morning, first thing, for about an hour…

But that is my joy and pleasure- working out in front of the television, mainly with stretching and virtual resistance exercises, that feel amazing and make you like a cat, twisting and stretching to make you supple, and feel like you are a free creature of the jungle! You learn to use the muscles you build strength training like a feline, feeling alive in your body, injury free and vital!

To me, that is the ultimate, lifelong goal of physical culture.

Support the show

Send us a text

I have worked out with weights, and then with calisthenics for many, many years. Starting in my teens, and continuing now, as I prepare to turn 73 in April. My results have been phenomenal, and as I continue to work out daily, I have turned more and more away from weights and equipment, and more and more rely on calisthenics and virtual resistance.

I have acquired some injuries over time, and the most nagging is the shoulder. Everyone who does heavy pressing movements, particularly the bench press, has problems with the rotator cuff of their shoulders. Me included, even though I stopped bench pressing long ago, in favor of gymnastic ring pushups and dips. These movements are far superior to bench presses, and are highly recommended to all! Far more natural in movement; the joints are also brought through a full range of motion.

However, shoulder injuries will haunt you if your exercise in the standard manner when young, or from sports or other injuries. What then? Should you use bands and/or dumbbells to do lighter, therapeutic types of rotator cuff exercises? Well, you can… but I have found a better method. Far safer, and no equipment is needed.

Virtual resistance is applying force through the limb itself. For the shoulders, just stand relaxed, legs shoulder width apart. Move your arms backwards, from down by your hips, applying force simply by flexing as you move. You can make it as hard, or easy, as you like, simply by applying internal force.

Move forward in an arc, as if you are doing a fly, followed by a row. Do one rep, slowly with internal resistance, forward and then back. Move your arms up a bit, and repeat. Then, move up some more (higher) and repeat. Then, repeat downwards, for five sets, up and then down. Do maybe five cycles, upwards to the sides of your body.

Do this daily, or at least a few times per week. Trust me; this will cure your rotator cuff shoulder problems completely! Gently, yet inevitably, without risk of further injury.

You will probably realize that this form of exercise can be done throughout your body, not only on your shoulders. Try doing a curl, without weights, but only with internally generated resistance. You can make it as hard, or as easy, as you’d like!

Try it with flies, and military presses- generate a lot of resistance. It is just as effective as weights or pulley machines! You can also replicate squats, and deadlifts- generate the resistance within your own body. You can also do bent rows, shrugs, and even pressing outwards, imitating the bench press- but without risk of injury, since the ‘weight’, or resistance, can be nullified in an instant by you, yourself, internally!

And there you have it! Not just a shoulder rehab although that is a perfect place to start, and to show yourself just how well it works. Virtual Resistance!

Now, I don’t stop there: I also do gymnastic ring exercises, dips, presses, and pull-ups, among others. But the fact remains that Virtual Resistance, by itself, can replicate any other exercises, and can do so with perfect safety, and is the ideal way to recover from injuries.

Learn it, and incorporate it into your fitness strategy!

Support the show